It was the winter of 1958. He had just run away with his lover to Shanghai. They went sightseeing every day and didn’t mind the dark streets or meagerly stocked stores where coupons were used to ration food. Life was just beginning.

Until two plainclothes policemen walked up behind them one day and called out his name.

“Are you Kan Zhonggan?”

Blinded by happiness and love, he said yes.

“Take a walk with us.”

Around the corner, a car was waiting. The couple got in. One officer sat between them. They drove for half an hour and then his lover was told to get out. As she was dragged away, their eyes met.

In the course of events
I’ve seen my goals hanging just like a carrot in front of my nose
In the struggle for those higher attainments, hell,
I’ve been to the top
and I’ve seen the drop on the other side

And I don’t care if your money’s no good
I don’t care if both your legs are wood
I don’t care what your ma says to do
Just come away with me

It takes time to get where you want to go
and its never quite the same when you get there
but that doesn’t stop me cause there’s still a couple things
I’d like to try with you and you never can tell
it might work out all right

You can sit and talk about life all day
as much as you can talk your questions wont go away
it’s a conversation that leads me to say
just come away with me

I’ve been burned before
and I’ll get burned again
I guess that’s the same for everyone
I know what I need
I know what I want
I know what I get —
they don’t always correspond

You can sit and talk about life all day
as much as you can talk your questions wont go away
it’s a conversation that leads me to say
just come away with me

One of the things that happens when you write songs — especially if you record them yourself — is that by the time you have anything presentable to the public, you, youself, already hate the song. Or are at least totally sick of it.

So I’m here to share that with you in the form of what I’m calling a songwriter demo, essentially a rough first draft production, with keyboards, drums, back up vocals and so forth — of “Chain of Mondays,” which, no, you’re not mistaken, was also the subject of last Tuesday’s “Monday on Tuesday” post commemorating the first workday of the new year.

And today is the first Monday.

So it’s all legit.

And, besides, this song has never had a proper rough production demo and it’s almost a year old — so, it’s all for a good cause.

I started out looking for an anthem but what I’ve got so far is a kind of garage rock…

chain of mondayssongwriter demo (first draft full production)

[UPDATE: I decided the recording I’d posted here was just too flawed to put up on the web. Imagine, if you can. Please feel free to enjoy one of the previous versions…]

Yesterday’s version of Chain was so incredibly awful…. all I can do is blame it on time-change lag.

(Which is, admittedly, utter BS, in my case, since I work off my bio clock far more than I’m bound by the more rigid confines of societal time… as anyone who has ever waited for a supposedly appointed meeting with me probably knows all too well.)

Anyhow… here is the best version of this, my latest song. Which is not to say it’s any good. But, you know, it’s hella better than yesterday’s…